My colleagues and I like coffee a lot and spend a good deal of time consulting with faculty who teach large classes. Thus, we developed the caffeine-o-meter to demystify the process of improving a large course. Part of it is on my site and the entire thing is on our department website. In all seriousness, it was important to us to provide faculty a continuum of options with fairly accurate portrayals of what each option would “cost.” It is very easy, in my opinion, to push interventions that not only overwhelm, but alienate faculty from a process that should involve iteration and continual improvement. The best improvements generally start small and grow as the validity of improvements is proved and entry cost is reduced.
And a final note is needed to thank all of those we’ve linked to and referenced. Your willingness to share you work and resources is what makes me so proud to be a part of this profession.
Caffeine-o-meter Legend
Latte-level:
Macchiato-level:
Double Espresso-level:
Image attributes – Full image is original, Latte (http://www.iconarchive.com/artist/kzzu.html), Espresso (http://www.flickr.com/photos/markfive/), Macchiato (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgarn/)